Review:

This episode was such a mixed bag that it almost felt like two different episodes.

The first half of the episode, despite some neat touches and nice character moments, was slow. As in, painfully slow. The second half was like a different episode. As in, it flatout rocked -- to the point where I wanted to forgive the overused concepts and contrived plot developments because the final 10 minutes made for such incredible drama and such dramatic revelations.

Peter rediscovering his powers was a pleasure to see; the Haitian showing up at Copy Kingdom was a delight; Kensei discovering his ability opens up a ton of story possibilities to be explored.

But Noah and the Haitian being reunited and Kensei getting an ability doesn't outweigh everything that dragged this episode down. Claire mutilating herself to see if she can survive it was done last season. Maya getting someone killed, blaming herself and bursting into tears is pretty much Niki for most of last season. Peter getting roped into a life of crime on the off-chance that it'll help him get his life back is a flimsy premise. And Yaeko falling in love with Kensei after one encounter and a couple of promises seemed extremely sudden. And in an episode which rocked in all kinds of ways, that sucks.

We start out where the previous episode left off: amnesiac Peter in Ireland. This whole thread leads up to Peter finding out about The Box and the chance to recover his memories, so let's just call this place McMemory Box Harbor.

Dominic Keating empties a bucket of water over topless, tied-up Peter, much to the joy of devoted fans everywhere. It's muted rather drastically by the sight of Peter getting the life beaten out of him, to the dismay of said fans who now need to peer between their fingers and wonder whether the show really needed to be so brutal with their beloved character.

The idea, I guess, was to hit home how angry these gangsters were about such an elaborately-planned operation going awry. But even that ends up losing its impact. I mean, the gangsters have bound Peter's hands so that he can't throw electric bolts at them, so you figure they aren't complete idiots. But you also have to wonder why they're so fixated with finding out where Peter "stashed" the iPods, and why they're so convinced that a guy who was handcuffed inside a shipping container and half-naked would know where the iPods had been taken.

That's not even the most laughable part, though. The fact that these gangsters are willing to beat the living daylights out of Peter just to retrieve a handful of iPods is ridiculous -- especially when (1) there really isn't any shortage of locations to visit in Cork if someone wanted to swipe a few iPods, and (2) it's last March in this show's timeline, and it's not like a batch of soon-to-be-obsolete previous gen iPods would even be that big a deal.

And, yes, that's totally beside the point in the context of the story, but the level of hell these gangsters give Peter for the sake of something that's worth a relatively small amount makes these gangsters beyond idiotic -- it makes them look incompetent. And incompetent thieves are not intimidating.

The beacon of hope for McMemory Box Harbor this week is that the Irish accents get better. The downside is that the stereotype gets worse. We learn that Peter's beating takes place in "Wandering Rocks Pub." So, in addition to incompetent thieves and violent thugs, we now have a further stereotype: drunkards. Good job, show.

At Canine Central, the episode's title appears around a measuring jug and on top of an egg yolk. Neat touch.

Claire pulling Sandra's wedding ring from the pot of boiling water was nicely done, in the same way that burning her hands on the tray of cupcakes was; one of those moments when you stop to consider the advantages an ability would bring on a day-to-day basis. It's everyday and mundane, and so removed from the life-or-death moments which emerge for the other characters later in the episode, and that's exactly why it works. As much as I decry the slow pace in these scenes at the start, little details like this -- and like Noah recalling how he used to cook breakfast for Claire -- helped.

They also establish what wasn't completely clear last week: Sandra and Lyle's memories haven't been wiped since they found out about Claire's ability.

Should Sandra's first impulse have been to freak out when she watched her daughter plunge her hand into boiling water? You'd think she wouldn't be able to watch her daughter do that to herself, even if she knows Claire will heal. The implication seems to be that Sandra witnessed enough "miracles" over the past four months to adjust to the reality that Claire can't be hurt, but whether that's to the point where the sight of Claire sustaining a serious injury doesn't immediately trigger a maternal instinct to help her is something which made me pause. Probably not something we were supposed to read into, but an interesting detail.

Claire starts off on her whole "I want to be myself/I don't want to deny who I really am/I can't pretend to be someone I'm not" thing. It sounds a lot like last season. It is a lot like last season. And after meeting Sylar and Thompson and nearly getting sent abroad to stay safe, you'd think Claire would appreciate the importance Noah attaches to laying low. But if you buy into the idea that Claire wants to explore her ability in privacy, without drawing attention to herself, the self-mutilation just about works. It's also a great scene for the dialogue, which was straightforward and concise, but also communicated something about the characters: Noah telling Sandra and Claire that his job is to keep his family safe and that "normal" is like a vacation from life with The Company were particularly telling.

Noah's shock at Papa Sulu's death played out believably; unlike Linderman or Papa Petrelli or Papa Deveaux, you figure the death of the guy who gave Noah his daughter would at least make him stop for a moment. The expression Noah gets when Sandra tells him not to keep secrets from her also comes across believably, particularly because it so closely resembles the last time Noah confided in Sandra. The difference is that on this occasion it's not Candice pretending to be Sandra (as far as we know), so Noah's trust in Sandra has a little more resonance.

Isaac getting namechecked was cool for continuity. I hope the show won't fall back on uncovering new and undiscovered prophetic paintings on a regular basis, because using it again would seem a little too formulaic. But as a one-off method to tie Noah to the Old Supers, it works fine.

Ando gives a statement to a police officer on the Rooftop of Pigeonly Delight. I'm not sure why, but I could totally imagine Ando text-messaging Hiro right about now:

"Hey buddy! Long time no see! Wish I knew where the *%@# you were. Still no letters from Western Union. No flying DeLoreans or Klingon Birds of Prey either. I have important news about your father. Weather in NY beautiful. Please call -- Ando."

[ ^ ^ Translated from Japanese]

Matt and Detective Fuller show up to examine the scene and question the witness. Matt's blatantly lying when he tells Fuller that he doesn't recognize the photo of Papa Sulu with the S-helix scrawled over it, although I can't figure if that's because he recognizes the symbol from the time he met the Haitian, or because he met Papa Sulu at some point in the previous four months which we haven't seen. But Ando recognizing Matt? That's a subtle detail. Ando stops talking to the police officer and definitely gets a weirded-out expression as Matt walks past him.

"OMFG -- Hiro, the guy who tortured you and shot Future-You is here! GET ME OUT OF HERE! -- Ando"

Fuller jokingly asks Matt if he knows someone who can survive a 20-story fall or fly. Chances are Matt remembers visiting Union Wells and investigating how Sylar fell from the roof and walked away, but does he know that Nathan can fly? I guess Matt probably wouldn't remember the time Nathan carried his brother into the atmosphere, given that he was bleeding out at the time and not particularly lucid. But then, Mohinder was there, and he knew Nathan had an ability long before Nathan saved the day. You'd think it would have come up in idle conversation between Matt and Mohinder that the congressional candidate who saved their city happened to be a super, but perhaps not.

Angela's fingerprints are already on record. Again, good continuity. It's always nice to get a mention of the Ice Queen's halcyon sock-stealing days.

And, you know, looking back on this scene, it suddenly becomes clear to me what a horrific collective headache it must be for the writers on this show to write a scene where any of the characters does or says anything that even vaguely connects them to one another. So, as a sidenote, I'd just like to credit them for crafting plots which are so cohesive, because just following the backstory in this scene gave me a headache.

Land of Sark. Hiro realizes his hero's not going to pull it together in time to save history, sees Kensei's armor on the ground, and gets the "Eureka!" light bulb.

Hiro: "Ando's never going to believe this one!"

That Hiro pretended to be Kensei? Why not? It's no more of a stretch than Hiro suiting up in Kensei's armor and riding off without the villagers noticing and assigning vast tracts of documented history to Kensei's stand-in sidekick. It's also no more of a stretch than Hiro turning out to be an expert horse-rider even though he can't drive.

Sophistication High. Claire throws caution to the wind and gets enthused about lizards regrowing severed limbs. The teacher needs to tell her to raise her hand.

"But Daddy told me NOT to raise my hand in class!"

Then Claire's hand rockets up, and D'Agosto gets this hilarious expression. It's supposed to convey how surprised and impressed West is that Claire spoke up, but the whole raise-your-hand routine has got to bring back memories for the actor because his expression's more, "My God, she's Tracy Flick! Time travel is possible!"

Midas Ned doesn't just become Midas Bob this week -- he becomes Midas Musical Bob: the guy has a cello in his office. Can you imagine the guy sitting down with the instrument after a long day of turning cutlery into gold and attending vivisections.

Why does Bob send Mohinder on an assignment when he realizes the guy might be the only hope of curing the supervirus? I guess the dramatic impact would be lost if Bob locked Mohinder in the office and left him with the cello, but it's not like The Company couldn't send anyone to find the Haitian and bring him to New York to be cured. Sending the only known cure to the virus into the field seems a little reckless on The Company's part.

Maya and Alejandro reach Guatemala and find a family friend who's willing to help them cross into Mexico. Nidia telling the twins how she watched them being born gives her a history with the characters, and makes us sympathize with her slightly more than the truck of extras who bled from the eyes last week. That said, it also drills home how wantonly Maya and Alejandro are endangering people they know and care about.

Maya tells Alejandro that it's not right to risk Nidia's life, which is melodramatic, but also right on. As with Mohinder, we'd lose the drama if Maya locked herself in a room while Alejandro made the journey to New York to find Papa Suresh, but you have to ask why neither of them tries to contact Suresh before undertaking a trip that's inevitably going to bring them into contact with people and lead to fatalities.

As per last week, Maya freaks out over the possibility that "it" could happen again. As per last week, Alejandro assures her that he won't let "it" happen. Which, as per last week, makes Alejandro look like a pillar of hope and optimism next to the whiny, insecure kid.

At McMemory Box Harbor, Peter's still topless. These gangsters must have some kind of aversion to clothed captives. I wouldn't want the show to deprive Milo fans of this guilty pleasure; I just hope it doesn't lead to Peter needing to absorb an ability that saves him from hypothermia, because chances are it would be fairly cold in Cork around March.

Anyway, Peter meets Caitlin, and Caitlin's charming and kind-hearted and considerate and rather delightfully played by Katie Carr. She even manages a convincing Irish accent. My notes here read: "Dead before Peter leaves Ireland." Which is sad, and which I hope turns out to be totally inaccurate.

The reference to McSorley -- the Guy Who Always Gets What He Wants -- had several shades of Linderman. I don't know if I buy into the theory that he's one of The Company's Twelve. I mean, it's a considerable drop in standards to go from global business conglomerates and thriving casinos to stealing iPods from cargo containers. But if McSorley couldn't make it as a businessman, a lawyer, or a crooked entrepreneur, the next option would obviously be a gangster.

Mohinder gets to Port-au-Prince and finds the Haitian. I'd mention how convincing the set is, and how great it is that the Haitian's back in the story, but there's only one reason why anyone will remember this scene.

French-speaking Mohinder!

I'm seriously beginning to wonder if the show's writers held meetings with the agenda "How to Make Our Male Cast Hotter In Season Two." Designer wardrobe? Check. Good with children? Check. Culinary skills? Check. Semi-nudity and handcuffs? Check. Affinity for romance languages? Check.

The only attempt to fail so far this season is the facial hair, because it seems like Pasdar's beard, for the most part, was a bust.

The religious overtones to a character's ability are again subtly addressed, although you'll note that the Haitian is the one who awaits God's "judgment" for abusing his "gift" and having it taken away, whereas Maya strives for "salvation" for inflicting her gift and hopes it'll be taken away. Different situations, but there's a neat parallel in the way the characters approach how to make up for the damage their abilities have caused.

Land of Sark. Yaeko fends off a dozen samurai with Kensei's sword. Hiro shows up dressed as Kensei and declares that he's the greatest swordsman Japan has ever known. How does he demonstrate this? By making everyone's swords disappear from their hands and reappear before him.

And this makes the samurai believe he's the greatest swordsman?

The samurai ready their bows and prepare to fill Hiro with arrows, but those also disappear from their hands and reappear in Hiro's.

And this makes the samurai believe he's the greatest warrior?

In spite of demonstrating zero swordsmanship and scaring the samurai away with what looks like sorcery, Hiro urges them to call this the Battle of Twelve Swords. Which was supposed to be a showdown between Kensei and White Beard and 12 deadly samurai, but which instead turns out to be a case of Hiro falsifying history and threatening to disrobe his adversaries. It's funny, sure, but it also sort of undermines historical accuracy if events end up being written exactly the way they were before Hiro showed up in 1671. Kensei has yet to display the swordsmanship which makes him a legend.

That doesn't grate as much as the next part, though. What feels false about this twist in the plot is the way Yaeko witnesses a couple of magic tricks and suddenly thinks Kensei is the greatest hero ever. You'd think it would take a little more to impress Yaeko, and that there'd be a little more to Kensei winning Yaeko's heart than this.

At McMemory Box Harbor, Peter discovers that he unwittingly absorbed the ability to phase his way out of restraints when he was near D.L. in Superhero Square. It makes for an incredibly cool moment in the story, but it also raises the question of how easy it is for Peter to absorb abilities at a distance. If he managed to get D.L.'s ability, then presumably he also absorbed Micah's ability to communicate with machines and Molly's ability to identify supers everywhere. Not an essential detail at this point, but definitely something which needs to be clarified before long.

Caitlin gets a visit from McSorley's son.

And again with the Irish stereotype: incompetent thieves, violent thugs, incorrigible drunkards, and now would-be rapists.

Caitlin again gets props for being a strong and likable character, not only because the kick to the guy's groin was well deserved, but because it seems like Caitlin is single-handedly trying to refute the impression which viewers are going to walk away with about Ireland after this episode. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems like Caitlin is the one Irish character in this episode with a shred of courage and integrity.

Peter discovers that, on top of the D.L.-phasing, his electric-bolt ability is intact, and so is Sylar's TK and Niki's superstrength. Caitlin's ability, meanwhile, consists of conveying a carefully mixed reaction that's somewhere between "Marry me!" and "Darling, couldn't you have done that without wrecking the establishment?"

West corners Claire at Sophistication High and tells her he expected her to be interested in whales or unicorns. Claire doesn't mention manatees. West skips to telling Claire about this amazing book he just found out about -- the one that Zach gave her. Which inevitably makes me compare the two and remember how cool a character Zach was and how deeply obnoxious West is. But it also serves to underline how Claire's being pulled in two directions: one by the father who wants her to forget she even has an ability, and one by the potential romantic interest who apprently wants her to advertise that she's special. Which, in turn, establishes why Noah's going to rip West's eyeballs from their sockets when they meet.

This week's Non-Product Placement: Steal a Nissan Rogue! It's easy when the owner leaves the doors unlocked and the car mysteriously fails to have the immobilizer which comes with every model as a standard security feature.

Also, buy another Nissan Rogue today!

(No, seriously: Claire asks Noah for another one before the day is out.)

Does this qualify for a Dumb As Award? My vote is no, mostly because you can attribute the unlocked doors to naivete, and because you really wouldn't expect the show to let its pride and joy get dented -- let alone stolen -- two episodes into a new season. I'm surprised and extremely impressed at whoever wrote this into the script. Is it part of a larger, ominous plot? Possibly. But even if it culminates in Molly's Ultimate Evil driving the car around town with a dozen iPods in the passenger seat, this was such a brilliant self-parody that I'd forgive it.

In the Land of Sark, "Kensei" tells Yaeko that his friend Ando usually did the driving. I wonder if 400 years of history books will now suddenly be rewritten to include references to Kensei's heroic sidekick, Ando, who "usually did the driving." In which case this qualifies as Hiro's retroactive Dumb As Award.

Yaeko continues to marvel at Kensei's bravery and honor and general awesomeness, partly because he now promises to rescue her father, but mostly on the basis of scaring off The 12 Stupid Samurai Who Are Afraid To Lose Their Clothes -- which, yeah, "brave" and "honorable." Or plain bizarre. Whatever. I thought Yaeko was a lot braver and more honorable when she was resolving to defend Otsu against an army.

Anyway, the scene with the cherry blossoms and the deer was beautifully shot. It pales next to any scene between Hiro and Charlie, and it seems like a shame that this was never even obliquely referred to, but the moment when Hiro freezes time and removes his mask was, at least to me, genuinely romantic. What Masi captures in that one shot -- delight and relief that the plan's working, sadness and regret because he realizes Yaeko will never return his feelings -- is the reason he deserved the Emmy.

Mohinder cures the Haitian of the supervirus, then admits that everything he said about God helping him to cure the Haitian was garbage, and that he can't believe in any god who would let his sister die from the supervirus. Intriguing character moment, because it suggests that Mohinder's beliefs are conditioned by perpetual bitterness over Shanti's death as much as by scientific skepticism. I don't know if that's going to be an issue when Maya finds Mohinder or when the Haitian ends up making amends for all of the brain tumors he's probably created, but it's a further example of the excellent job the show is doing of exploring whether these abilities are the result of natural evolution, or whether they're God-given gifts and curses to be used according to a particular set of beliefs.

In Guatemala, Maya asks, "What if we get caught?" Which, to be fair, is probably only about the third or fourth time Maya's asked something along the lines of "What if it happens again?" and "What if we don't make it?" and "What if I kill a lot of innocent people?", but it already feels like it's the millionth time we've heard this from Maya, and it's really beginning to grate. It makes Maya come across as such a whiny and insufferable Clone-of-Niki-at-her-most-helpless-and-self-pitying, I half-wished we'd seen the end of her when her eyes started bleeding out.

Alejandro's power is established as the ability to absorb and neutralize Maya's effect. By the end of the episode, then, we've learned that Alejandro can reverse Maya's power, but don't know how much time elapses before he's unable to revive Maya's victims, or what the long-term effect is on Alejandro for constantly sucking up whatever Maya's inflicting on the people around her.

It's intriguing, but is it enough to make for a compelling story thread? I'm not sure yet. It's moving along faster than Niki's thread last season, and the way it's progressing towards some kind of a resolution -- either a cure to the affliction or the death of the character -- suggests it won't drag on for longer than it needs to. What's unclear is where the story arc can go. I'm not saying it won't be compelling to find out; just that, at this point in the plot, it seems to have very limited potential, and one of the characters is already becoming tiresome.

Claire visits her dad at Copy Kingdom. Aww. Noah's unloading packs of gummy bears. Double-Aww. And Claire tells her father that she lost the $20,000 car she was only just given, and Noah's all, "Sweetie -- is that all? I was afraid you were hurt or in danger! And that would be the end of my world --

BECAUSE THEN I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND PULL OUT YOUR SPINAL CORD AND SEE WHETHER IT ALL GROWS BACK!"

Or not. Mostly, Noah just lives up to the Best Dad In The World label because he doesn't think a stolen car is a big deal. Which, admittedly, next to Sandra's brain tumor or Lyle getting kidnapped by The Company, it isn't. But this is the kind of moment where you're reminded that this is a fantasy show you're watching and not real life, because no dad in the world is this understanding.

The dialogue between Claire and Noah in this scene plays out well, though. Claire telling her father that he's the only one she can talk to about her ability rings true, and comes across as kind of sad, because you can't help wondering why, after everything Claire went through and after everything Noah witnessed when it came to Claire's ability, the topic never came up before. Odd, because it always seemed like Claire and Noah were about as close as a father and daughter could get, and because providing any information Noah had on the instaheal ability would probably be the one way to dissuade her from this crazy-ass fixation Claire has with mutilating herself.

But then, you could probably defend Noah's reluctance to reveal the extent of Claire's ability on the grounds that, if he tells her she can grow back a new arm when she chops the current one off, chances are she's going to try it. Which is a step up from burning her hand in a pot of boiling water, and probably something Sandra wouldn't be able to witness without intervening.

Claire wondering whether her ability could have wide-ranging medical benefits says a lot about how far she's come over the past season. To have gone from wanting so badly to ignore her ability and be normal to contemplating whether it's worth sacrificing normality for the sake of the greater good adds a certain nobility to the character. You know it would only happen over Noah's dead body, but the notion goes a long way to replacing Claire's self-centeredness in the first season with selflessness in the current season.

The scene where Angela was questioned by Matt and Fuller was flatout terrifying. Not just because of the "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" moment or the image of Angela and Kaito together (and that's something that can never be unseen), but because the idea of Angela recalling "something terrible" after planning the destruction of a city and not batting an eyelid conjures up notions of something really horrific.

Morbid Question of the Week #1: Angela mentioning Peter's death raises all sorts of questions about how Peter's death was explained. It's not like she and Nathan could report a death caused by nuclear overload in the upper atmosphere. Did Angela and Nathan make up a story about him drowning? Did they report it as suicide? Was there a funeral? Morbid thoughts, but I wonder what the official explanation was.

Angela's Folly In Tokyo? I shudder to think, but you can't help wondering how it fits into the backstory, and where Mama Sulu was at while this was going on. Probably something which will be revealed, but honestly, I wouldn't be too broken up if it was never mentioned ever, ever again. Because, I'm sorry, but Angela and Papa Sulu? ... is just downright scary.

Angela's response to Matt's ability was intriguing. You'd figure that, even though she helped to set up The Company and established ties to specific members who reported directly to her, she wasn't involved with the day-to-day operations, and probably didn't know that Matt had been bagged and tagged. But the way she homed in on the "revenge" idea and realized how Matt came to that conclusion implies she's encountered more than one mindreader in the past, and that she knows how to scare them out of getting a read on her. Which is both incredibly disturbing and incredibly cool, but not nearly as funny as blocking Matt out by thinking in Japanese.

Matt recalling the time he met Nathan in Odessa was a nice nod to continuity. It doesn't seem like he knows Nathan can fly, but if he does, he covers it up quite convincingly here.

Morbid Question of the Week #2: Why would Angela's attacker waste so much time giving her papercuts instead of just slitting her throat? Superhoodie didn't waste any time taking out Papa Sulu, so you have to wonder whether the plan here was simply to scare the living daylights out of Angela, or whether Superhoodie intended to kill her but was extremely ineffective about it. The list of abilities the killer possesses is also rapidly mounting, since we can now speculate that Superhoodie has the ability to fly, to cause electrical power surges, to get in and out of a sealed interrogation room, and to inflict fleshwounds with little or no contact with the victim. All of which seems to point to Superhoodie being an empath.

The only other empath we know at the moment, however, is the one at McMemory Box Harbor, who decides to stay at the pub with Caitlin while McSorley Rapist Junior regains consciousness, runs off to his dad to tell on Peter, and then insists on Papa McSorley having a strongly-worded conversation with Ricky, who then returns to the pub. In all this time, did Peter think to take Caitlin and run for his life? No! Why? Either because he's a gallant hero who believes he can steer these Irish gangsters from their corrupt ways and form lasting friendships with each of them, or .... because he's vying for this week's Dumb As Award.

*PING!*

Chalk one up for Peter on account of procrastinating with the beautiful lass when he should have bailed and put his fate in the hands of strangers.

Ricky pulls out The Box and tells Peter that his name is ... Peter.

Oh, Ricky. Don't tell him his real name. Be adventurous. Mindy. Francesca. Pixie. Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock. Anything but his real name!

Peter learns that the secret to his identity might be inside The Box. His focus momentarily becomes so erratic that he doesn't channel the abilities he's recently regained or the abilities he has yet to rediscover. Hence, we're not privy to a rather impressive visual effects sequence in which

(1) Peter TK's The Box towards him,
(2) Peter sends an electric bolt at Ricky before he gets a chance to throw The Box into the fire,
(3) Peter turns invisible and snatches the box out of Ricky's hand,
(4) Peter teleports next to Ricky and snatches the box out of Ricky's hand,
(5) Peter freezes time, removes The Box out of Ricky's hand, then teleports away,
(6) Peter uses cryokinesis to freeze the fire in the pub, then freezes Ricky's hand and arm, then prizes The Box from Ricky's frozen fingers,
(7) Peter reads Ricky's mind, discovers the contents of The Box (or realizes that there's nothing of any value inside it), and leaves,
(8) Peter scalps Ricky and takes The Box from the corpse's hand,
(9) Peter floats several feet into the air and threatens to turn Ricky into a leprechaun if he doesn't give him The Box,
(10) Peter turns nuclear and explodes (which would obliterate The Box and sort of defeat the idea, but I couldn't think of another one, and the thought of the gangsters getting vaporized was so appealing that I thought I'd at least mention it).

Instead, Peter agrees to join the gangsters who tied him to a chair and sadistically beat him up, and to help them repay their debt to Papa McSorley.

^ ^ Actual plot development!

The dramatic impediment here is the amnesia. Once that's fixed, chances are Peter's going to be able to do any of the above, meaning the show will need to put another obstacle in his way, then another, then another. I hope I'm wrong, and that there's an unexpected twist on the horizon. But it seems like the alternative is to admit that Peter's a character whose ability allows him to supersede all others and overcome all predicaments by virtue of being able to find a solution to every problem and use multiple superpowers to maneuver his way out of every crisis.

And in order to avoid such a situation, we end up with Peter Petrelli -- empathic, sensitive hospice nurse, ostensible "favorite son," whose destiny is to save the world with love -- getting amnesia and turning to a life of crime.

Land of Sark. Hiro returns Kensei his armor, describes how amazing everyone thinks he is, and marvels as Yaeko shows up to gaze longingly at the man she thinks is Kensei, not noticing the difference in height between the man she stood with under the cherry blossoms and the man in front of her now.

The way the camera focused on Kensei and Yaeko's hands touching when she passed the sword seemed significant. I don't know if the show wanted to linger on that shot to emphasize the emotional bond that will grow between the characters, or if it's a detail in the plot which was crucial for an understanding of what happens later. I know no spoilers on this topic, so I'm going to submit Heroes Theory 583,294,867 and speculate that Yaeko is a super, that her ability is to instaheal, that Kensei is an empath, that he has no clue that he just absorbed his first ability, and that Kensei's abilities will go on to include immortality, which is how he'll end up in the 21st century and become Superhoodie.

Or not.

Either way, The 12 Stupid Samurai Who Are Afraid To Lose Their Clothes show up and plow arrows into Kensei. Then they sort of ... run away. Which was perhaps intended to draw attention to their speed and brutality, but in reality made them look like the kind of idiots who don't even stick around to make sure their victim is actually dead.

Kensei dies, and then -- dun-dun-DUN! -- his wounds heal, and he coughs back to life again. It's extremely cool because, as with West having the same ability as Nathan, we're now going to see how two people approach the same ability with a different perspective. I doubt Kensei will be interested in cutting off his pinky toe, but he's probably going to become the most reckless and gung-ho warrior on the field if he thinks nothing can hurt him. The question is whether that will impress Yaeko more than disappearing swords. I hope so, because that was lame.

Mohinder returns to Chandra's Crib, where Matt has been studying the scary eyes and S-helixes in Molly's notepad but didn't find it so disturbing that he couldn't take a quick nap. Mohinder walks past him. Detective Parkman doesn't stir. Which sort of makes you worry for Molly's safety, and wonder whether The Company couldn't use this moment to bag and tag Molly, remove Mohinder's research, feed Lizard-Mohinder, and play some juvenile prank on Matt involving shaving cream and itching powder.

Oh, come on, The Company would totally feed Lizard-Mohinder.

Noah and the Haitian are reunited. It's all smiles. There's no mention of how the Haitian allowed Claire to fall into the hands of that awful Ice Queen, or how Noah was living the sunny Californian life while the Haitian was dying.

"Welcome to Copy Kingdom. How can I help you?"

Aww! And Yay! And Woohoo! Because that was the height of awesome.

And EXACTLY THE SAME applies to Mr. Muggles watching Lestat's clone on TV, because that has got to be the single most adorable moment the show has written for the dog so far. You figure it's easy for a trainer to lure the dog around the set with food, but to get him to sit on the coffee table and stay glued to the TV screen is a feat.

And from Aww! and Yay! and Woohoo! and Awesome!, we move on to Ew! and Gross! and Gah! and Oh, no, they DIDN'T!

Squeamish viewers -- look away now!

The toe flying off and a new one regrowing was an amazing effect. I wouldn't have believed there was an alternative cut if I hadn't read it in Beeman's blog, but this version works so much better, and fits so much more relevantly with the class on reptilian cellular regeneration. I'd love to see the original version on the DVD, but this take was a million times cooler -- on screen, and in the plot.

The dog apparently finishes chewing on the toe in time to notice that West is standing at the window -- which, Ew! and Gross! and Gah! and OH, JUST KILL THE OBNOXIOUS CREEP OFF ALREADY, SHOW!

Overall, this wasn't a bad episode. Several of the story threads moved forward: Kensei discovered his ability (or one of them) and came close to embracing his role in history, Peter got out of restraints and rediscovered several abilities, and Mohinder got to demonstrate how he's only going to pretend to be dumb this season.

But for every great part in this episode, there was a not-so-great part. What pulled this episode down is the way parts of the Maya and Bennet story threads felt so repetitive and slow-paced, the way Peter agreeing to help Ricky felt like such a forced plot device, and the way Yaeko's change of opinion about Kensei ended up feeling so arbitrary that it didn't come across as believable.

It's almost a different show to last season, but if you benchmark this second episode with the first season's, they're remarkably similar: "Don't Look Back" had Matt finding Molly, Peter floating, and Hiro traveling to the future and watching New York explode -- all of which rocked. But it also had Niki finding her garage cleaned up, Claire flirting with Brody, and Mohinder facing off with The Exterminator, none of which were particularly entertaining.

On balance, this is less compelling than the second episode last year, but about average by the standards which this show has set. It's certainly not a disappointment, but with several excellent story threads laid out this week, I hope for a lot better next week.

3.5 out of 5